My first experience with video distribution amplifiers (DAs) was installing and calibrating upper middle class devices in the TV station I was installing. Broadcasting was starting to accept opamps for audio, but video ICs were years away. The DAs were an all discrete version of a classic opamp layout, diff amp, voltage amp, constant current source pull down in a class A output stage, and a +24 V / -12 V power rails for a 2 V output. They made very good pictures.
I did a character generator output stage with an LM318, but that was mono.
ak